Ira Chernus  
PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

 

 

SYLLABUS

 

RLST 2400                                                                                                  PROF. IRA CHERNUS

RELIGION AND                                                                                          FALL 2008

CONTEMPORARY U.S. SOCIETY                              

 

Lecture (Section 010):  Monday and Wednesday 2:00 - 2:50, Hellems 201

 

Recitations: 

Section R011:  Ira Chernus, Wednesday, 3:00 - 3:50, EDUC 231

Section R012:  Jonathan Pilgrim, Thursday, 2:00- 2:50, HUMN 125

Section R013:  Jonathan Pilgrim, Friday, 8:00 - 8:50,  HUMN 1B90 (in basement)

 

Please be sure that you are registered for both the lecture and a recitation.

 

ABOUT THE COURSE

 

                 In this course we will look at contemporary U.S. society, using the concepts and methods of academic religious studies as our basic tools.  The course will not focus on organized religion (Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, etc.).  Rather, we will give most of our attention to the values and cultural patterns that people in the U.S. tend to share in common—what we often call secular life.  We will see how religious studies can shed new light upon our everyday secular life. 

                 The ideas in this course are meant to be complex, difficult, and challenging.  You are not expected to understand them all perfectly or in complete detail.  But you should be able to grasp the main themes clearly, understand at least some of them in good detail, and put some of them together to develop new ideas of your own.  Most importantly, by the end of the course you should be seeing "contemporary society"—which means the everyday world around you—in new, more complex, and more interesting ways.

                 The lecture sessions will be principally for reviewing and discussing the main ideas in the assigned readings, to make sure we understand them as clearly as possible.  It would be best to read each assignment twice—once before we go over it and once after.  The recitation sessions will be for questions, analysis, criticism, and more discussion.  (Be sure that you are registered for a recitation section as well as for the lecture.)

                 The success of the course depends heavily on your cooperation in doing the work, participating in class, and thinking hard about the course material.  Your comments throughout the course, no matter how critical, and suggestions for improvements will be most welcome.

  

COURSE OUTLINE

I.   How Social Scientists Interpret Religion

II.  The Traditional Public Religion

III. Postmodernism:  The New Public Religion?

IV. Challenges to the Public Religion

                 1.  Liberation Theology

                 2.  The Spirituality of Nature / Body / Place

 

REQUIRED READING

 

These books are available for purchase in the Bookstore and on reserve in Norlin Library: 

Peter BERGER, The Sacred Canopy

Leonardo and Clodovis BOFF, Introducing Liberation Theology

Charlene SPRETNAK, The Resurgence of the Real

Other required readings, as well as this syllabus and other materials pertinent to the course, are at http://www.colorado.edu/ReligiousStudies/chernus/2400/index.html    You can access the web-based readings easily from the syllabus on the website.  They are marked “WEB” in the syllabus.

 

LECTURE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

I. SOCIAL SCIENTISTS INTERPRET RELIGION

AUG. 27:  What Is Religion? 

WEB:  "Religion as a Cultural System:  The Theory of Clifford Geertz"

SEPT. 3:   RELIGION AND THE NOMOS

WEB: Summary of Sacred Canopy, chapter 1; BERGER, Chapter 1.  The Vocabulary List on the WEB should help you get through Sacred Canopy.

SEPT. 8: Religion And Freedom

WEB: Summary of Sacred Canopy, chapters 2- 3; BERGER, Chapter 2

SEPT. 10: religion and alienation

BERGER, Chapter 4 

 

II. TRADITIONAL U.S. SOCIETY:  THE PUBLIC RELIGION

SEPT. 15: the meaning of Secular Society 

WEB:  Summary of Sacred Canopy, Chapter 5 (Berger, Chapter 5 optional)

EXAM # 1 DUE

SEPT. 17: Public and Private ReligIon

BERGER, Chapter 6 (read at least 128 - middle of 139 and middle of 145 – 147)

  
SEPT. 22:  THE WORLDVIEW OF MODERNITY

WEB: "The Myth of Objective Consciousness" (from Theodore Roszak, The  Making of a Counterculture) pp. 210 - 229;

WEB:  Study Aids:  Modernity

SEPT. 24: THE WORLDVIEW OF MODERNITY

SPRETNAK, 38 - top of 44, middle of 56 - top of 63, 217 - top of 222 (44 - 56 optional)

SEPT. 29:  Classical Liberalism

WEB:  “The Cultural Milieu:  Liberalism” (from Edward S. Greenberg, The American Political System), 36 - 50 

OCT. 1:  THE CONSUMER SOCIETY

 WEB: “Herbert Marcuse: A Critique of Consumer Society,” Study Aids: Consumer Society

OCT. 6:  Religion and the Meaning of the Nation

 WEB: "The Shape of the National Covenant" (from John F. Wilson,  Public Religion in  American Culture), 23 - 40

OCT. 8:  Religion and the Meaning of the Nation

WEB: "Religious Meanings of the Community" (from John F. Wilson,  Public  Religion in American Culture), 102 - 117

III. POSTMODERNISM:  THE NEW PUBLIC RELIGION ?

OCT. 13:  Modernism

WEB: Ira Chernus, "Modernity, Modernism, Postmodernism";  Study Aids:  Modernism;  SPRETNAK, middle of 167 - 173   

OCT. 15:  What is Postmodernism?

SPRETNAK, bottom of 173 - 180;  WEB: Todd Gitlin, "The Postmodern Predicament,"  Study Aids: Postmodernism  

OCT. 20: Exploring Postmodernism

WEB: "Fredric Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 1

OCT. 22: Postmodern culture

WEB: "Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 2 

OCT. 27:  tHE POSTMODERN SUBLIME

WEB: "Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 3

OCT. 29:  Postmodernism and social change

WEB: "Jameson's Interpretation of Postmodernism," Part 4

NOV. 3:  The Postmodern ConservativeS

WEB: Terry Eastland, “In Defense of Religious America” (from Commentary Magazine), 41-45; Gary Wills, “Original Sinlessness” (from Reagan’s America)

NOV. 5:  CONSERVATIVES VS. LIBERALS

   WEB: Robert Wuthnow, The Restructuring of American Religion, 244-251, 254-259, 266-267, 292-295

EXAM # 2 DUE

 

IV.  CHALLENGES TO THE PUBLIC RELIGION

 

NOV. 10:  liberation theology:  INTERPRETING the world

BOFF & BOFF, 1-30  

NOV. 12:  LIBERATION THEOLOGY:  INTERPRETING THE WORD OF GOD

BOFF & BOFF, 30-65  

NOV. 17:  women, nature, and Theology

 WEB:  Carol Christ, "Rethinking Theology and Nature"

NOV. 19:  Liberation Theology WORLDWIDE

BOFF & BOFF, 66-95

DEC. 1:  THE  SPIRITUALITY OF NATURE/BODY/PLACE

SPRETNAK, 11 - 36, 64 - 79

DEC. 3:  A CRITIQUE OF  THE world as it is

SPRETNAK, 81 - 129

DEC. 8:  AN ALTERNATIVE WORLD

SPRETNAK, 181 - 215

DEC. 10: INTERPRETING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

EVALUATION:

 

Your grade in this course will be based primarily on three take-home essay exams. They will be due on Sept. 17, Nov. 5, and Dec. 15.  Your essay exams will be graded by your recitation instructor.  It will be to your advantage to discuss the course material as fully as possible with your instructor, both in class and outside of class.  It makes a lot of sense to discuss the ideas BEFORE you write the essays, though you are also encouraged to discuss the essays after they are returned to you with comments. 

There will be no in-class exams and no in-class final exam.

You can improve your grade by active participation in recitation discussions, showing that you have done the reading, attended lecture, and thought about the material. 

                

OFFICE HOURS

Ira Chernus will have office hours in Humanities 284 on Monday 3:00 – 4:00:  chernus@colorado.edu

Jonathan Pilgrim will have office hours in Humanities 260 on Thursday 12:45 - 1:45 and Friday 9:00 -10: 00: jonathan.pilgrim@colorado.edu .

 

If you need any special accommodations to enhance your learning in this course, we will be glad to discuss that with you.